Poor Merced

From yahoo real estate...

"Merced, Calif., is a quiet, residential city an easy drive from Yosemite National and Pacific Coast beaches. It's also a perfect case study for the aftermath of the housing crisis. Homes at the median level in Merced have lost 62% of their value from the second quarter of 2006, when they peaked at $336,743, the biggest drop anywhere in the country, according to data provided to Forbes by Local Market Monitor, a Cary, North Carolina-based real estate research firm. Earlier, home building and buying grew exponentially in Merced, but the metro now suffers from a whopping 16.4% unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reflecting a drop-off in building industry jobs and a grim housing market."

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/cities-where-homes-are-losing-most-value

Poor Merced. Poor us. Will it ever recover???

Taking Pictures

I tried to take some pictures today... Samantha cried everytime I put her down (it's amazing that I got the ones I did). Grant has decided that he loves having his picture taken (or at least the flash) so he often gives me a HUGE cheezy smile when I bring out the camera. It's been quite fun the last few weeks.

Grant's Animal Sounds

Why I love him!

We took family pictures last weekend and in order to help Grant smile, Nick made his elephant sound. When I saw the picture taken in the process of this sound, I had to blow it up! Grant loves his Daddy, probably because he is so darn funny (looking! -- ha ha ha).